Nine years ago, I went to the first ever Southern Idaho Truck Show. Little did I know, at just 10 years old, walking around, looking at the whopping 15 trucks on the little dirt lot at Standlee Hay’s shop, that this show was going to become a huge hit. But, year after year, more trucks showed up. Eventually, it was moved to a grassy park in Hazelton, Idaho, but two years ago, the show even outgrew that place, as trucks were squeezed into every nook. We all knew the show needed to move to a bigger and better place, and last year (2021) it did. And this year, we were all smiles!
The 2022 Southern Idaho Truck Show, which was once again paired up with the Highway 30 Music Fest on June 24-25, was a rousing success. As the trucks rolled in and got polished up, we were serenaded by many amazing artists at the music festival such as Koe Wetzel, Pecos and the Rooftops, and Granger Smith. On Friday night, a smoked prime rib dinner was served by the show team with the beautiful trucks surrounding the tables. Once the sun set, drivers turned all their lights on to light up the grass. As I wandered around taking night shots, I met many amazing drivers and talked to many of them about their rigs.
On Saturday morning, a delicious breakfast was offered to the drivers and their families. From 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, aside from the trucks, there was apparel for sale, a huge silent auction, delicious food trucks, and a bounce house and coloring contest for the kids. The awards ceremony started at 4:30, where kids won bikes from the coloring contest and drivers won well-deserved plaques. The Big Kahuna awards went to Marty Miles with his 1985 Kenworth K100E cabover, that is a rustic blue and white, from H&M Express in Pine Bluffs, WY, along with Blayne Amoth and his 1996 Peterbilt 362 cabover, that is a beautiful red and maroon, from Aamodt Trucking in Bonners Ferry, ID. Both of these trucks will be featured on the 2023 Southern Idaho Truck Show apparel to give a big bang to the 10th show.
The Competitor’s Choice award was given to Mike Todd with his 1985 Peterbilt 359, painted white, blue, and silver, and 2nd place went to Willy Shapley and his 1967 Peterbilt 359 that is painted black with a red stripe. And lastly, the famed Norwegian’s Choice award went to Bert and Lisa Greene with their 2022 Peterbilt 389, painted a bright purple and white, from Greene Trucking LLC in Gardnerville, NV. That’s just a few of the trucks out of 101 trucks that participated in the show this year.
Other than the winning trucks, some other trucks that stood out included Stephanie Henderson’s “Pepto Pink” KW W900L, that was the only truck pulling three trailers in the show, and Clyde Green’s beautiful cream and red KW A-Model, that always makes me drool. Although the temps were above 85 the entire time, it was amazing weather to go perfectly with this amazing show.
The 2022 show was, without a doubt, the biggest and best show, with double the bystanders and double the smiles. From all the truck shows I have personally attended, there’s always the hometown comfort feel that Southern Idaho gives to bring people back for the next year – which, I assume, will be even bigger and even better!
